Pinnacle Combines with CSC

In response to the ongoing convergence trend within the financial services industry, CSC (Austin, TX) has combined the Pinnacle Alliance Group—a consortium of companies formed in 1996 by CSC as part of a seven-year $2.1 billion outsourcing deal to manage the IT infrastructure of JP Morgan (New York)—with CSC's existing financial services unit.

According to Jim Cook, president of the newly combined group (and formerly president of the Pinnacle Alliance Group), insurers' access to CSC's financial industry-specific expertise and resources will be enhanced because the skills within the Pinnacle Alliance will permit the new Financial Services Group to offer additional services. The Pinnacle move follows a major realignment of activities and responsibilities in the financial services group earlier this year, following CSC's acquisition in late 2000 of insurance software and services company Mynd (PMSC).

According to Cook, the Pinnacle Alliance, which includes JPMorgan Chase, CSC, Accenture (New York), Verizon (New York) and AT&T Solutions (Basking Ridge, NJ), continues to hold up its terms of contract with JP Morgan, which was acquired by Chase Manhattan Corp. (New York) in December 2000. Each company provides a different set of skills to JPMorgan Chase, and all of the group's members share collective responsibility for the group's performance.

Now is the time for the combination, according to Cook. "The combination is simply a recognition of what has been developing in the marketplace," explains Cook. "Many conglomerates are forming in financial services, and they are asking CSC to provide a wide range of solutions. There are skills that we have now to generate better solutions for customers," says Cook.